Broad-toothed mouse

Mastacomys fuscus

Blamed on cats

IUCN Status: Near Threatened

EPBC Threat Rating: High

IUCN Claim: “The species is threatened by predation from introduced foxes (Vulpes vulpes) (Bubela and Happold 1993, Green 2002) and Domestic Cats (Felis catus) (L. Broome pers. comm., Milner et al. 2015).’”

Studies in support

Cats hunt broad-toothed mice (Doherty et al. 2015).

Studies not in support

No studies

Is the threat claim evidence-based?

There are no studies linking cats to broad-toothed mouse populations.

Evidence linking Mastacomys fuscus to cats. Systematic review of evidence for an association between Mastacomys fuscus and cats. Positive studies are in support of the hypothesis that cats contribute to the decline of Mastacomys fuscus, negative studies are not in support. Predation studies include studies documenting hunting or scavenging; baiting studies are associations between poison baiting and threatened mammal abundance where information on predator abundance is not provided; population studies are associations between threatened mammal and predator abundance.
Evidence linking Mastacomys fuscus to cats. Systematic review of evidence for an association between Mastacomys fuscus and cats. Positive studies are in support of the hypothesis that cats contribute to the decline of Mastacomys fuscus, negative studies are not in support. Predation studies include studies documenting hunting or scavenging; baiting studies are associations between poison baiting and threatened mammal abundance where information on predator abundance is not provided; population studies are associations between threatened mammal and predator abundance.

References

Doherty, Tim S., et al. “A continental‐scale analysis of feral cat diet in Australia.” Journal of Biogeography 42.5 (2015): 964-975.

Wallach et al. 2023 In Submission